Day 46: Back to Back Centuries in WY

My destination for the day was Gillette, a mild 70 miles away, so I took my time in the morning. I rode through downtown Buffalo, which takes all of 4 blocks but has some great historic buildings, and restocked lunch supplies at the grocery store. I would be on I-90 the entire day and there was one rest area 30 miles from Buffalo, then nothing else until Gillette. It would be a hot day and not much of a water supply so I filled myself with sports drinks and water, then also filled my three water bottles and brought a 20 oz Powerade as insurance. Combined with some energy bars and jerky I felt I had enough supplies to be able to take it slow if the winds were against me (which they have been since Missoula).

But to my delight as soon as I got going I realized that I'd have a tailwind, at least starting out. The interstate zigged and zagged so sometimes it was a crosswind, other times it was at my back, but either way it was pushing me hard. There were even a few stretches where I was cruising effortlessly uphill at 30 mph and gaining speed! It brings me such a smile when the more I sit up the faster I go. So with all the wind I made it to the rest area sooner and with less effort than I expected, having only gone through a bottle and a half of water. I rested, reapplied sunscreen, refilled water bottles, and found out through conversation that it was 102°! That seems ridiculous but at least it was dry heat and with all the wind and all my sweat I was keeping cool enough. Don't get me wrong, it was really hot, but I was able to pedal through it better than I expected.

I made it into Gillette around 2 pm and stopped for Mexican food. Once I had cooled off I wasn't opposed to a warm meal and began to hear my stomach yelling so I went for the Macho Burrito. I've found that at least in MT and now here they don't have the beloved super burrito. Instead they have the macho, which is very similar but has red sauce and cheese over it, and the guac and sour cream is piled on top instead of inside. Either way it was great with my margarita and tamarindo agua fresca. And in case you're worried about the booze at lunch dehydrating me (Dad), I also downed four pints of water as well. I took my time, trying to wait out some of the heat, and rolled down to the Rockpile Museum which is free. Despite the horribly unexciting name, the museum actually has a really interesting collection of just about everything relating to Gillette history including dinosaur fossils from the area, arrowheads, old schoolhouses, and all sorts of western and mining gear and equipment from the past couple centuries. Gillette claims to be America's Energy Capital since the area provides a third of the coal that the U.S. uses.

During my museum exploring the burrito started to to weigh on me. I haven't been getting great sleep since I'll get in at dusk, set up and eat around 9 or 10, then get to bed around 11 or midnight. The sun is rising around 5:15 each morning which means that I start waking up around 6 when the tent gets light and warmer. I'll toss and turn for awhile but I'm still not getting enough sleep for the exercise I've been putting this body through. This, combined with a large lunch and hot day, nearly had me falling asleep in the museum. I headed outside and did a little bit of planning, because even though I had reached my goal, I just couldn't stop with so much daylight.

I hopped on the bike again, starting out slowly, and headed for Moorcroft. On the way I passed Rozet which has 25 people, a pub with drive up liquor service, and a strip bar. I'm not sure where the dancers come from or how they make enough money but I wasn't too curious and kept going. I was riding along Hwy 51 and it ran straight east as did the wind, and I don't think my speedometer read less than 24 mph the entire way to Moorcroft, this wind was perfect. Once in Moorcroft I headed to the RV park and motel, which is the first RV park I've come across to not also have camp sites. The lady also informed be, without any sign of empathy for my situation, that there weren't any washrooms either so I couldn't use an RV spot. Feeling a bit annoyed at the encounter I left and found a different motel to settle into. The employee was an elderly woman who I coached through the credit card swiping process and she asked me about my trip. I'm still not sure how it happened but the conversation soon turned from "why are you on this trip" to "I really like Mitt and I hope they get that Washington cleaned up". Thanks lady but I haven't paid attention to politics in a month and a half, and regardless of your views I don't want to hear them right now. I just got done riding 102 miles through 102 temperatures and need a shower not a sermon. It's nice not having to set up camp once in awhile, and I prepared a backpacking meal on the dining table to save some money so I'm feeling good about the night.

That's right, back to back century rides! I've had long stretches of little in the way of stops, and a strong urge to get to Sturgis in time for Steph's arrival, hence the Tom Petty song running through my head. Overall they've been great long days but I do have a couple small saddle sores so I'll take it easy the next couple days now that I only have to cover 80 miles in two days.